Chapter Three

The next few days, the mysterious girls kept to themselves while Toph, Aang, Katara, and Sokka went about their business, having no heart to leave the girls there alone. Seraphina was regaining the use of her legs and could often be seen stumbling around camp, glaring at anyone who happened to look at her. Ardere was still unable to move very much, and she didn't talk to anyone but her sister.

Three days after they had found Seraphina and Ardere, Toph blew up. She stalked over to Ardere and Seraphina who were talking quietly amongst themselves. They looked up as she came over to them.

"I'm sick of all this whispering! Why won't you talk to anyone else but yourselves?" Toph practically shouted. Aang looked up from his meditation, and Katara peeked out of the tent to see what the ruckus was about. "We just saved your lives back there, and how do you repay us? By whispering behind our backs and not telling us what the heck is going on!"

Katara walked up behind Toph. "Ardere, Seraphina, what Toph means is that she would appreciate it if you would tell us who you were and what happened to you two back there. I'm sure that we all would like that," she added.

"No, what Toph means is tell us what's going on or scoot your butts out of here!" Toph shouted, stomping her foot on the ground and causing the rock Sokka was sitting on to jump 5 feet in the air. Sokka yelped loudly in the background.

"Toph…" Katara started. "Be nice. They aren't going to tell us anything if you're mean like that."

"Sure we will," Seraphina said, surprising everyone who was listening. "I'm glad you guys finally got up the courage to ask us. I was beginning to think that you all were a bunch of spineless jellyfish." Ardere laughed a whispery laugh that almost turned into a cough.

"So… You'll tell us what happened?" Aang asked hopefully, coming to stand next to Toph and Katara, followed by Sokka.

"Of course. Sit down, this may be a little bit of a shock… Or not," she added. They obliged and sat in a circle with the sisters.

"Well… I suppose you know that I'm Seraphina, and my sister is Ardere. Skipping that, I suppose you would like to know what happened to us. Well, a few months ago, almost year actually, my sister and I decided to go our separate ways…" she started. "See, we were trying to find the Avatar, which is you obviously, and we thought that it would be best if we split up for a while. Well, a few days after we split up, Ardere, here, was captured by the Fire Nation…" she paused. "Ardere would you like to tell this part?"

"Sure. Well, they took me by surprise. I didn't stand a chance against them; they had 10 fire benders with them. They overpowered me. That part is a little fuzzy though; the next thing I remember is waking up in some fortress or something, all chained up with no way to escape. They tried to torture me into saying where I thought the Avatar was. Unfortunately for them, I had no idea at that time. After about a month or so, they gave up and just left me chained in that room all day every day, only popping in once a day to give me food. Seraphina?" She said, turning the story over to her sister.

"Well, a month after we split up, I got worried. We were supposed to have met up by then, yet I hadn't seen any trace of her. When word got out that she was chained up in the Fire Nation, I set off to find her. A few weeks went by without any trace of Ardere, and I began to lose hope of ever finding her. Finally, I found the fortress." Looking at Aang she said, "You might recognize it, Aang, seeing as you were kept there for a while before being rescued by the Blue Spirit." Aang's eyes widened, but he remained silent. "Continuing on, I decided that I would try to play hero and break into the fortress and save her. That did not work out as planned; I was captured as we made a break for it."

"Then it was back to our own little solitary prison rooms where we were kept in chains for around 6-7 months. They tried torturing the Avatar's whereabouts out of Seraphina, but she didn't know where you were," Ardere continued where Seraphina left off.

"To this day, I hate it when people use whips on animals…" Seraphina intervened. The others looked aghast at this method of punishment.

"Did they… Your legs…?" Sokka stuttered, shocked.

Seraphina nodded. Then she pulled up her pant legs to her knees so they could see the deep scars, cuts, and red markings that were there. Toph is so lucky she's blind… Katara thought.

"For once, I think I might be glad that I'm blind," Toph stated, echoing Katara's thoughts. "How'd you two escape?"

Ardere shrugged. "Seraphina did something I guess. I can't remember, I think I was unconscious at the time because they had just…" She broke off, shuddering involuntarily. Seraphina rubbed her shoulder.

"When you found us, we had just escaped a few days earlier. I had been carrying Ardere for the past three days, seeing as she was unconscious… If you hadn't found us… we might not have survived. We thank you," Seraphina said, looking at the ground.

"So are you two benders? Why did the Fire Nation capture you?" Sokka asked eagerly.

"Now that, is going to far," Seraphina stated bluntly. "If you'll excuse me, I need to do something in the woods," she added, meaning that she had to go to the bathroom. She stumbled off, leaving the others sitting in the circle.

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Again, THANK YOU Twilight Rose2!!! Chapter Four is COMING! Tomorrow, actually. I'm just too lazy to put it up today. If anyone is wondering about Seraphina and Ardere's hair, then it's coming in the 4th chapter! Please R&R!!!!!!! Again, thanks, Twilight Rose2!

Sunny